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IMDbPro

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex

  • 19391939
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
5.8K
YOUR RATING
Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
Trailer for this turbulent story of England and Queen Elizabeth
Play trailer3:29
1 Video
56 Photos
BiographyDramaHistory
A depiction of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.A depiction of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.A depiction of the love/hate relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex.
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
5.8K
YOUR RATING
    • Michael Curtiz
    • Norman Reilly Raine(screen play)
    • Æneas MacKenzie(screen play)
    • Maxwell Anderson(from the stage play by)
  • Stars
    • Bette Davis
    • Errol Flynn
    • Olivia de Havilland
    • Michael Curtiz
    • Norman Reilly Raine(screen play)
    • Æneas MacKenzie(screen play)
    • Maxwell Anderson(from the stage play by)
  • Stars
    • Bette Davis
    • Errol Flynn
    • Olivia de Havilland
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 71User reviews
    • 50Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 5 Oscars

    Videos1

    The Private Lives of Elizabeth And Essex
    Trailer 3:29
    Watch The Private Lives of Elizabeth And Essex

    Photos56

    Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Errol Flynn, Ralph Forbes, and Robert Warwick in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Errol Flynn, Donald Crisp, Ralph Forbes, Henry Stephenson, James Stephenson, Robert Warwick, and Henry Daniel in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Errol Flynn, Ralph Forbes, and Robert Warwick in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Olivia de Havilland Publicity still for "Private Lives Of Elizabeth and Essex"
    Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
    Bette Davis and Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Bette Davis
    Bette Davis
    • Queen Elizabeth
    Errol Flynn
    Errol Flynn
    • Earl of Essex
    Olivia de Havilland
    Olivia de Havilland
    • Lady Penelope Gray
    Donald Crisp
    Donald Crisp
    • Francis Bacon
    Alan Hale
    Alan Hale
    • Earl of Tyrone
    Vincent Price
    Vincent Price
    • Sir Walter Raleigh
    Henry Stephenson
    Henry Stephenson
    • Lord Burghley
    Henry Daniell
    Henry Daniell
    • Sir Robert Cecil
    James Stephenson
    James Stephenson
    • Sir Thomas Egerton
    Nanette Fabray
    Nanette Fabray
    • Mistress Margaret Radcliffe
    • (as Nanette Fabares)
    Ralph Forbes
    Ralph Forbes
    • Lord Knollys
    Robert Warwick
    Robert Warwick
    • Lord Mountjoy
    Leo G. Carroll
    Leo G. Carroll
    • Sir Edward Coke
    Guy Bellis
    • Lord Charles Howard
    • (uncredited)
    Forrester Harvey
    Forrester Harvey
    • Bit Part
    • (uncredited)
    Holmes Herbert
    Holmes Herbert
    • Majordomo
    • (uncredited)
    I. Stanford Jolley
    I. Stanford Jolley
    • Spectator Outside Whitehall Palace
    • (uncredited)
    Doris Lloyd
    Doris Lloyd
    • Handmaiden
    • (uncredited)
      • Michael Curtiz
      • Norman Reilly Raine(screen play)
      • Æneas MacKenzie(screen play)
      • Maxwell Anderson(from the stage play by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      As well as shaving two inches off her hairline at the forehead, Bette Davis also had her eyebrows removed. She later complained that they never grew back properly and that ever after she had to draw them in with an eyebrow pencil.
    • Goofs
      The movie depicts Lord Burleigh being alive at the time of Essex's insurrection in 1601 however, Burleigh died in 1598.
    • Quotes

      Queen Elizabeth I: And when he takes you in his arms again, thank heaven you are not a queen.

      Mistress Margaret Radcliffe: But I thought to be a queen...

      Queen Elizabeth I: To be a Queen is to be less than human, to put pride before desire, to search Men's hearts for tenderness, and find only ambition. To cry out in the dark for one unselfish voice, to hear only the dry rustle of papers of state. To turn to one's beloved with stars for eyes and have him see behind me only the shadow of the executioner's block. A queen has no hour for love, time presses, and events crowd upon her, and her shell, an empty glittering husk, she must give up all the a woman holds most dear.

    • Crazy credits
      The Warner Brothers shield is in the form of an English coat of arms. This logo was seen in Errol Flynn's previous film The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938).
    • Connections
      Edited into Adventures of Don Juan (1948)
    • Soundtracks
      The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (Come Live With Me and Be My Love)
      (posthumous 1599) (uncredited)

      :yrics by Christopher Marlowe

      Music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold

      Played on piano by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and sung by Nanette Fabray

    User reviews71

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    Not the dream team of the cinema
    The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex was a personal triumph for Bette Davis in her portrayal of Elizabeth I of England. Davis was 31 when she played the Virgin Queen at the tail end of her regime, Elizabeth herself was 65 in 1601 when the action of this story takes place. It concerns her involvement with Robert Devereaux, Earl of Essex, a last foolish gesture on the part of a great monarch.

    Davis hated working with Errol Flynn since doing The Sisters with him a year earlier. She was quoted as saying that when she had to kiss him she'd close her eyes and pretend it was Laurence Olivier. But I think Olivier might have had trouble making Essex a hero.

    In point of fact he wasn't any kind of a hero. He was a vainglorious, conceited, egotistical cad of a human being who apparently only had talent in the bedroom. Now the bedroom part would have fit Flynn perfectly. But he became a military commander and leader and he bungled every job he was given.

    The real Essex was played like a piccolo by the other members and rivals of the Elizabethan court. His main rival in the film is Robert Cecil played by Henry Daniell. In the film he is incorrectly identified as Lord Burghley's(Henry Stephenson's)son when in fact he was a nephew. Because it's Henry Daniell and he's a clever schemer he has to be the villain. In point of fact Cecil was a patriot in the best tradition. He was very concerned in fact about Essex's military ventures that they were nothing but missions of glory. Cecil's greatest contribution to English history was to come two years later when Elizabeth died, it's due to him that there was an orderly transition from the House of Tudor to the House of Stuart.

    My favorite performance in this film is that of Alan Hale as Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone who led the Irish rebellion against the English at that time. What happens in court to Essex with his rivals there is nothing compared to the way O'Neill plays him. He leads him deeper into the Irish interior, using hit and run tactics and then cuts him off from his supply base. And then in surrendering O'Neill very cleverly sows the seed of more dissension by telling him what a great leader he was and the Irish could never have beaten him if he'd been backed up better from home. And Essex the rube falls for it.

    Another good performance is Donald Crisp as Sir Francis Bacon. He's a wily old fox used to court politics Elizabethan style. Bacon tries to give Essex some good advice none of which Essex accepts. In the end Bacon gives up on Essex and just switches sides, lest he be brought down with him.

    So what we have here is Bette Davis giving a great performance with a leading man she detested and Flynn trying desperately to breathe life and heroism into a character who wasn't terribly heroic. It would have defeated a better actor than Errol Flynn.
    helpful•51
    9
    • bkoganbing
    • Feb 13, 2006

    Details

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    • Release date
      • November 11, 1939 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Stage 14, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 46 minutes

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